CHARLES HORNETT : ca 1806 - 1867
Charles Hornett pictured in about 1855
The earliest certain reference to Charles, my ggg grandfather, is in June 1828 when he married Elizabeth Atkins, by Banns, in Paddington. At that time, marriage records do not usually record the names of fathers, so there is nothing to give an indication as to Charles' parentage; the witnesses appear to have been family friends rather than relatives, again leaving no clues. Elizabeth was from a family that had lived in Eton from at least the 1720s, and the history of which will be documented elsewhere in these pages. Elizabeth herself was born in Eton, probably on 31st March 1807, her parents being John Atkins and Sarah Hall. John Atkins was an employee of the customs service and later rose to the rank of 'surveyor', an officer who was supposed to try to ensure that rules were followed and that the duties owed were actually collected.
No record has yet been found of the birth or baptism of the first child of this marriage, Charles John Hornett, and the first current knowledge of Charles and Elizabeth after their marriage is from the baptism of the next 3 children at Christ Church, Marylebone, on 5th June 1836; at that time, Charles was described as being a plasterer and the family's address was recorded as being 6 Duke Street, Marylebone. These children were Richard, Henry Atkins and my gg grandfather, Francis. A fifth child, and first daughter, was born in October 1838 when the family address and Charles' occupation were the same as before; Ann Eliza Hornett was also baptised at Christ Church, Marylebone, on 28th October 1838. It may be that it was this child whom Cornelius Traveller later identified as 'Ann Charity Atkins Hornett'.
By the time of the 1841 census they had moved to Houghton Street, a poor part of London near to Lincoln's Inn Fields, and Charles was then working as a coal dealer. The 1843 Post Office Directory also has an entry for Charles Hornett, a coal dealer, at this same address and he still had this occupation at Christmas 1844 when the birth of his 7th child was registered, but he had reverted to being a plasterer by 1850 and seems to have remained as such for the rest of his life. In 1851, he and his family were living at 20 Wych Street, Strand, and in 1861 at 87 Drury Lane though at some point before 1871, they moved back to Houghton Street. However, Charles was not then with them as he had died in November 1867 following what must have been a very nasty accident with a cart. According to his death certificate, he was in Great Queen Street (which adjoins Drury Lane) when he was hit by the shafts of a cart; his injuries reportedly included broken ribs and a ruptured spleen and he died as a result of internal bleeding in Kings College Hospital on the following day.
Charles was supposedly aged 64 at the time of his death, which conflicts with the theory that he was born in 1806 and does nothing to help to confirm his origin. His father-in-law, John Atkins, made an entry in his family bible to the effect that :
"Mr Charles Hornett met with (h)is death November 13th and buried Nov 17th 1867"
Charles did not leave a Will and there is no record of his estate being subject to Administration, so it is presumed that he had little of any real value to leave his widow. The area in which the family lived was crowded and poor and escaping this must have been very difficult; sadly, Charles was not able to do this though he may have laid the foundations for some of his children to improve their lives. He did, however, manage to leave a small photograph of himself, actually looking reasonable prosperous, though when this was taken is currently unknown.